BACK TO LOVE
by ytilaturb
Summary: Casey wasn't home for Thanksgiving. She wasn't home for Christmas or New Years either.. Derek wanted her to come back to him, but he could never tell her to throw away Broadway.. Just a little short :)


**Hey guys! It's been a while since I have posted something and I'm super sorry! I hope this will make up for it for a little while. I just listened to Pauly D's new single "Back to Love" featuring Jay Sean and it's amazing. I love it.**

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**Back to Love**

**Year One:**

Derek shut the door to his room and sat down on the bed. He saw a small box sitting at the foot of the bed with a blue ribbon tied around it. He knew it was from Casey. She had left it the morning she left for New York with Jessie, he just never opened it yet. He sighed and grabbed it. Even though he knew that she would never call him to see if he liked it, he decided to open it anyways. He untied the ribbon and opened the box.

Inside, there were three picture frames. One of them was a picture of D-Rock, the second, a group picture from graduation. Derek was in the middle, Emily's arms wrapped around him, Sam and Kendra. On the other side of Derek, was Casey and Ralph. He smiled in remembrance of that night. How happy he was to be with his friends. It was then he noticed while Emily had her arms wrapped around his waist, he had an arm around Casey's. He almost wondered if that was why Emily had broken up with him at the end of Summer.

And the last picture, was just Casey and Derek, no graduation gowns, just the clothes they had on underneath. They didn't know the picture was being taken until after the flash, he remembered, but they were both looking at each other, smiling. He sighed sadly and set that picture on his nightstand next to his alarm clock.

XX

There was something different about attending University without Casey. Over the Summer before school, hey had become close. Especially after their little family vacation. Derek stayed busy though. He always made sure he finished his assignments on time, but he still made time to hang out with the new people he had met. But, his first year there, he didn't date. His room mate had tried to hook him up with some ditzy bimbo. Derek didn't understand why he had kept refusing to go on dates. It wasn't until his room mate, Kyle, asked about the picture that had never moved.

"So, is she the reason why you won't date anyone at this school?" he asked Derek, walking into the open bedroom door.

"Not really," Derek sighed.

"What is it then?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know," Derek said after a minute of silence.

"Who is she anyways?"

"My friend Casey," Derek said. "She was supposed to come here with me but she decided to go to New York to be on Broadway,"

"Impressive," his roomie smiled and Derek smiled a little.

Kyle's brows furrowed into thought. He looked at the two pictures that has this Casey person in them and he looked back at Derek.

"You're in love with her aren't you,"

Derek looked at Kyle then hung his head slightly. He gave a small nod

"Tell her to come back," he said.

"I can't," Derek shook his head. "Broadway has been her dream since... forever. I can't tell her to give up her dream,"

XX

Casey wasn't home for Thanksgiving. She wasn't home for Christmas or New Years either. Hell, she didn't even answer his phone calls or texts. She never got back to him whenever he e-mailed her his hocked schedule for that season. Every game he had hoped that he would see her hiding in the stands, but he never saw her. She wasn't at any of his games that year.

Even when he went home for the Summer, she wasn't home. He walked to her room and just stood in the doorway.

"Derek?" Lizzie called out to him.

"She's not coming home, is she Liz?"

"Not this year," she said, sadly.

**Year Two:**

When the season was back in session, Derek was more focused on his school work and hockey more than anything. He still hoped that Casey would come home sometime soon, and he always looked in the stands to see if she was there. Still, she was never there.

He still hung out with his friends, went to parties, and was still a normal young adult, but he still refused to date. There had been tons of girls that year who had tried to snag him but nothing worked. He had his heart set on Casey. And as everyday told him that she wasn't coming back, he still held on.

He held on to her so much, he looked her up online and found out when her next show was and took the next flight out to New York to see it.

He was able to sit close enough to see her perfectly. Just seeing her up on the stage, dancing her heart out made it more clear to him that there was no way that he could tell her to give up her dream. That would be like telling Derek to just drop hockey. His heart was completely broken by the end of the show. Once the curtains closed, he was the first one out.

**Year Three:**

Homework and hockey. That's what Derek's third year of University was like. He barely had any free time at all. He had stopped trying to e-mail, text, or call Casey. He knew that if he kept trying, he would be setting himself up for more pain.

He did start dating a girl names Stephanie, but that didn't last long. She said that she couldn't be with someone who was so focused on school and "dumb sport", as she said.

That Summer, when Derek went home, he heard a very familiar laugh. When he walked in, he saw Casey. His heart skipped a few beats as she looked more beautiful than the last time he saw her. He wanted to grab her and pull her into a tight hug. But he said nothing to her as he walked up to his room to put his bag away.

He was there for a total of three days before making up an excuse to leave. He had told his dad that he got the schedule for hockey camp mixed up and that he had to go. He ended up crashing at Sam's place on the other side of town that Summer and didn't really see anyone.

**Year Four:**

Derek was in his room when there was an urgent knock on his door. Kyle, letting himself in and he quickly shut the door.

"Dude," he said, "I think Casey's out there,"

Derek rushed out and saw Casey in his small living room.

"Can we talk?" She asked him.

XX

He led them to a small court yard on campus where no one really hung out so they had some privacy to talk.

"I know you went to Sam's,"

"So?" Derek asked.

"So, you'd rather go to his house than be with your family?"

"Look, I have been home every holiday and ever summer for the past two years, so don't give me shit about not being home this time. And where the hell do you get off trying to lecture me about not being home?" He snapped.

"Derek-"

"No, you haven't been home or even talked to anyone in three years, am I giving you shit about it? No," he said, "I've been wishing and hoping that you would come back to me. Then you finally come home and you don't even think to call me? You didn't even say good bye to me Casey,"

"I couldn't say good bye to you,"

"What?"

"Saying good bye to you would have been the hardest thing for me to do," she said to him. "And if me going to New York was such a problem why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, I've seen you up on that stage Case," he said, "I can't make you give up Broadway for me,"

"But Derek-"

"Casey, you belong in New York,"

There was so much pain and love written on his face, it made Casey want to cry. She stood in front of him and gently put her hands on either side of his neck. She saw the pleading look in his eyes before he grabbed her hands to remove them.

"Go back to New York,"

With that, he let go of her hands and turned away.

XX

"I'm so proud of you son," George said to his son.

Derek had graduated from university. And he had been signed to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"Thanks, dad," he smiled.

His room mate, who had also been signed, had taken a family picture for Derek's family. Derek was happy to see all of them but he wasn't surprised that Casey didn't come to see him walk.

But what else was knew...

XX

Derek's family went to every single home game. And he even made it to The Stanley Cup Playoffs.

He had just gotten home from the last game before the playoffs and he finally had received the family picture from his graduation in the mail from Nora. He opened it and smiled at the pictures. She had sent him a photo album with news clippings from all his games. He grabbed the frame with Derek and Casey in it. He wanted to replace the photo with the newer family photo. When he turned over the frame, he saw a purple piece of paper sticking out. He opened the flap and pulled out a note.

He set the frame down on the counter and opened the note.

_I'll come back to you..._

It was signed with the letter C with a heart around it.

XX

It was the last game of the playoffs. The last period with two minutes left. Derek was exhausted, but he knew that those last two minutes were the most important minutes of his life.

It was like life had just slowed down as the puck was being dropped. When it hit the ice, it was a big stick fight for about a minute and a half. Fifteen seconds of more fighting and clumsy hockey players, Kyle finally got it away from the mess of skates and sticks and passed it to Derek. He looked at the clock. He wasn't about to let this game go into an over time. He closed his eyes and hit the puck as hard as he could. He heard cheering and then the buzzer go off. The only reason why he opened his eyes was because his team skated to him and picked him up to congratulate him.

"D, look on the bench!" Kyle said in his ear so he could hear.

Derek looked and his brown eyes met with a pair of blue eyes. Blue eyes he thought he'd never see again. He skated over to her and without a word, he cupped her face with his sweaty hands, and kissed her with so much urgency, he almost forgot he was in front of 50,000 people plus the amount of people watching the game on TV.

"Uh, D?" Kyle tapped his friend, "we have a trophy to receive,"

"Huh?"

"That big thing that you just won for us," he said pointing at The Stanley Cup.

"I'll be here," she smiled at him.


End file.
